The Yes Album by Album Thread (Part 2)

Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman & not enough Howe (for me)

This one has a hard time living up to the long title.
I really wanted to love this Yes-not Yes album when it came out and I tried, but it never really grabbed me the way even Big Generator did (sorry RRB). Playing my LP again recently it comes off to me like a glorified Anderson solo album. It's ok but I get a bit bored by the end of things. Like Warewolf95 says- it just doesn't rock enough and to me the writing overall is just ok.

Though Howe had plenty of ideas used in the writing (Order of the Universe and Long lost Brother of Mine were his lines) he says he got mixed out of quite a bit of the album . Then again, he didn't make it to the recording studio in Barbados or the mixing session. Not sure why.

I like the opening "Themes" and "Brother of Mine" but I don't really I don't hear much adventurousness in the playing except maybe at the end of "Birthright". Not even the b-side Vultures does much for me and I still can't hear Howe there either.

Worth it for the live show, though!
I also agree with WW95 that live, this band was really great. After a slow opening of the set seeing them play CttE at Merriweather was a mind blower. A first for me with that song live. The concert really took off from there and we all were very happy to have these guys back together.

 

Excellent work on the review RRB. As per usual it makes me want to relisten with your analysis to enhance my understanding.

(I dont know if I'd make a point of noting a tune going back and forth between A Minor to C major, though - probably sounds more significant to folks that dont speak theory than it is to those who do).

Anyone else have the In the Big Dream video? Bruford's shorts b sure scream 80s.

Per the package the song In The Big Dream was a #1 rock hit

 

If only they had worked "The Meeting" into a couple more sections making it around 10 minutes long. Another verse section, a bridge and a solo section with Steve solos but keep the ending it has and it would have been amazing. Oh well.

 

Those electronic drums on ABWH make the album unlistenable to me. Maybe White and Squire could re-record their respective parts and turn this into a true Yes album.

 

Thanks.
I thought about the A Minor, C Major thing. You are right. Technically it probably is in A minor overall but I may be wrong. I get confused with the relative minor major thing sometimes. I need to map out all of the chords at some point since I think the song (The Meeting) is amazing.

 

ABWH is an album of extremes for me. When it's good it's very good and when it's bad, it's really bad. On the bad side of things, the mix has way too much reverb and the balance between keyboard and guitar is weighted too far towards keyboards. Bill is playing great but eventually I start wishing he'd used a standard kit just slightly augmented by electric drums rather than a full Simmons electric drum kit augmented by cymbals and a snare drum. Also, Teakbois and Vultures should have swapped places and Quartet would have benefited from the single version of I'm Alive.

Now on to the good stuff, there's a few very strong tracks here. Themes serves the same purpose for Jon that Machine Messiah did for Chris, Steve and Alan back in 1980. It's his chance to vent after feeling confined by the 80's music industry Yes being pulled in several musical directions and being weighted down by personal and financial issues. I agree totally about Brother of Mine, I also consider it as the And You And I or Heart of the Sunrise of the 80's. Birthright was so good it was able to keep the difficult to please Bill Bruford happy for a while. Order of the Universe doesn't quite reach what it aims for, which I think is probably to make people think of Roundabout and the title track from Going for the One but it's a fun guilty pleasure track for me. Let's Pretend and The Meeting are pleasant short interludes.

I wasn't totally impressed when I got the official ABWH live album released in '93 where Jeff Berlin stood in for Tony Levin but since then I've gotten a hold of some of the shows with Tony and now I understand more why fans raved about this tour.

Fist of Fire more Steve Howe mix from the In a Word Yes box set


"I don't have to be the boss, but in this situation I am. I give certain people their own responsibility, in order to have some fun myself." - Jon Anderson

 

It kind of dates the album. I think I have to agree somewhat on your comment. I would have rather heard Bill play more standard drums also. Still, I like the album and as I said, The Meeting is one of my favorite "Yes" songs.

 

would never replace bruford/Levin with white/squire......never in a million years

 

ABWH......is a great album, while I tolerated cinema I dreamed of seeing Howe/Wakeman and when surprised with Bruford I got on my knees and said THANK YOU

the tour absolutely blew me away. 10 minute standing ovation every night for Close to the Edge. the solos especially wakeman and bruford/Levin were ridiculous. trooper was again amazing. I was enthralled that I actually followed them around the northeast corridor going to show after show. I got backstage for 2 of them. I got pictures and autographs from all....wakeman and Anderson were wonderful...bruford got annoyed with me for asking for too many autographs. my friend turns to me as we walked away and said "I have no desire to do drugs but if I did I would do whatever the hell Anderson is on"

 

we can't review all the solo work and there is no reason to...I just wanted to put a shout out for Bruford/Moraz "music for piano and drums" it really is fantastic and ranks up there with the best solo stuff

 

You owe it to yourself to buy the ABWH Live at the NEC set:

http://www.gonzomultimedia.com/prod...-Live_at_the_NEC_Deluxe_Edition_(3_Disc).html

And the 2-disc ABWH studio set at Gonzo includes this tracklist on disc 2:

1. Rick Wakeman Intro's
2. Brother of Mine (edit)
3. Brother of Mine (radio edit)
4. Vultures in the City
5. Order of the Universe (edit)
6. Order of the Universe (long edit)
7. Quartet (I'm Alive) (Single edit)
8. Brother of Mine (live)
9. And You And I (live)
10. Order of the Universe (live)

It's also worth getting.

 

ABWH's appearance at the Arista records 15th Anniversary and AIDS benefit. Bill uses a standard kit and they play a medley of Sweet Dreams, Brother of Mine and Roundabout.

 

Is this just a video made by Daily Vinyl to accompany the single edit? I've only ever seen the one from "In the Big Dream" where it starts w/ Jon sitting in a chair, you slowly zoom in until through the eyes you enter the mind of Jon Anderson- then the video proper begins. It's a really cool vid that I watched many times; I really like the single edit. I like that more than the song Quartet, where I'm alive gets short shrift.

 

The Brother of Mine music video



That wasn't the official video for I'm Alive I posted but there was one made for it. It seems like it's hard to find online right now. I used to have it on the In the Big Dream VHS release.

 

One of the more thrilling moments seeing any Yes unit (and I consider this Yes, BTW) was the live show. Big improvement from the Big Generator show, where subtlety was replaced with bombast. For ABWH, each ex Yes member was slowly introduced with a solo piece, then Bruford's first live Close To The Edge with Levin on stick blew everyone away.

The record was billed as a return to Yes' Prog roots. But except for the first few minutes of Brother Of Mine, which have some great Anderson vocals, this album, like parts of Big Generator, has not aged very well.

I blame this for a few reasons:
1) Bruford and Wakeman' s sonic choices
2) Howe's lack of presence- what happened to his fantastic technique here??
3) The overdone backing vocals, where Squire is sorely missed
4) The songwriting is really not that epic here, despite appearances

Anderson is really the star here, although he would change his mind and go totally off the rails with the next release...

 

you absolutely made my night...thank you, never saw that before

bruford is amazing, just amazing...wakeman is a monster and you gotta love howe changing out for the acoustic when really for 8 minutes he didn't have to

 

Interesting that Yes played for Ahmet Ertegun's 40th, while ABWH played for Clive Davis' Arista here.

But the world did not get any version of Yes playing at Live Aid in 1985. A huge missed opportunity.

 

In 1990, Jon and Steve cut demos for the proposed second ABWH album. It didn't go well and eventually Arista records and Jon's choice of producer Jonathan Elias asked for new and different material and quickly. The result, stuff was written and recorded last minute, egos roared, tempers flared and Yeswest were eventually called in for help. Rick only had limited availability and according to Jonathan Elias, limited interest. There was a falling out between Steve and Jon and Jonathan and session musicians had to come in and pick up the pieces.

Only one song from Jon and Steve's separate demo and writing sessions made it to what become Union, Take the Water to the Mountain. Some licks from Steve's then current solo album Turbulence were formed into new songs. An outtake from Jon's demos, Axis of Love was almost revisited for Keys to Ascension but it didn't get used. One of Jon's songs written during the ABHW period, Distant Thunder was used at that time though, retitled Children of Light. Steve used one of his rejected ABWH second album demos, Southern Accent for his Quantum Guitar solo album.

 

I was excited to open that link, but then disappointed in what I heard. It sounds pretty average.

That ABWH material is pretty terrible there, even with Bruford on acoustic drums. Levin looks ridiculous and his bass sound really doesn't suit the music.

 

Some random impressions-
The version of Sweet Dreams is almost unrecognizable here. Would not have been my choice for an opener.
Howe's lack of fire on electric is noticeable, again I wonder what is up with his chops around this time.
Nice to see him use the acoustic on Roundabout, really showing the YesWest faction his stamp on this song.
Did Wakeman's keyboard rig get lost in transit? Looks like he is borrowing Tony Kaye's minimalistic setup here. At least his mullet showed up.
Tony Levin adds a lot of tension musically, what a world of difference from Jeff Berlin's muddy sound.
Anderson's vocals are really great, how many singers in their 40s could sing this well?

 

That video is absolutely terrible and it's also a bit racist.

 

Union aside, I love the 90s output. Its pretty varied from album to album and there are some definite hidden gems in this decade

To name a few:

The Calling
Lift Me Up
Endless Dream
Universal Garden
Homeworld
Lightning Strikes
That That Is
Mind Drive
Foot Prints
Open Your Eyes
I Am Waiting

Just to name a few

Also, am I the only one to disregard the Keys to Ascension live discs and simply go for Keystudio? I don't need the tracks as bonuses - it was a complete studio album and should've been issued as such.

Not to jump ahead of op, just voicing my enthusiasm for the future of this thread

 

I now have a new litmus test for determining whether or not a music video is/was truly bad. Thank you

 

Sweet Dreams and Roundabout were always the encores for the ABWH tour. The shows always opened with an acoustic medley by Howe/Anderson and other.

Now, I don't know if this was a special appearance and they only played the two songs or if a whole show was filmed and they only showed the encore.

 

The Forgotten Yesterdays set list site says they just played the short set from that clip.